Police Seize Assets of TestKiller.com
7/10/2002 -- On June 6 San Antonio police seized assets of TestKiller Ltd., the company that runs the practice exam Web site TestKiller.com.
According to a police report filed with the Bexar County, Texas District Court on June 20, the raid was prompted by Microsoft, who alleged that the site was selling Microsoft certification exam questions.
In his affidavit, seizing police officer Daniel Flaharty, a detective in the Special Crimes Unit of the San Antonio Police Department, wrote that he was contacted by a representative from the anti-piracy office of Microsoft. The unnamed representative alleged to Flaharty that TestKiller Ltd. was selling Microsoft "trade secrets" in the form of questions and answers to Microsoft exams.
According to the report, Flaharty began an investigation based on Microsoft's complaint, which led to the June 6 seizure of $408,566.84 in cash as well as several phones, printers, computer equipment, software and other items from at least one location.
No charges have been filed in this investigation. Calls made to the Bexar County district attorney's office to determine whether the investigation was ongoing were not returned as of press time.
Garry L. Neale, one of Testkiller Ltd.'s owners, politely declined CertCities.com's request for an interview, referring all questions to his attorney, who is out of the country this week.
A spokesperson for Microsoft confirmed that the company was aware of the investigation but said he could not comment on it due to the legal nature of the story.
The Testkiller.com Web site has been offline since early June.
Neale is the former owner of Troy Technologies (TroyTec.com), which in December settled a civil copyright and trademark infringement lawsuit brought by certification vendor CompTIA (see "CompTIA v. TroyTec Settled; Company Pulls CompTIA-Related Products from Site, Denies Wrongdoing").
CertCities.com will continue to follow this story and bring you further updates as they develop.  -B.N.
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There are 254  user Comments for “Police Seize Assets of TestKiller.com”
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| 7/22/02: Anonymous says: |
I have taken exams from Microsoft since 3.51. I have many certifications. Up until recently I agreed with not using the aformentioned guides. However, after taking many tests and actually knowing the subject matter VERY WELL, as I actually do it, I have suggested to many friends to use the guides. Microsoft insists on asking really DUMB questions. Some outside, obscure piece of info to try to remember. A friend mentioned that these guides were necessary IN SELF DEFENSE against the idiotic questions. I have come full circle and agree. May I mention that this is NOT a privately held position about the stupidity of the questions and refer you to no less a guru than Mark Minasi, who wrote an article about the stupid MS questions. So, if MS listened, no problem. As long as they insist on questions outside of the "normal" realm of usage, we will need help or otherwise spend ridiculous time and effort on futile things. If MS had real tests, ok, until then we must use whatever means possible. Kind of reminds me of the IRS. |
| 7/23/02: ACE from PA says: |
I got my MCSE the old fashioned way, I earned it!! |
| 7/24/02: Anonymous from Iowa says: |
All I have to say is I studied hard for 2 years to get my MCSE in NT4.0, and it's bad enough that it no longer means anything because Win2K is now what you need! But you add to that the fact that when I first started, an MCSE was regarded as the top of the line, and by the time I passed it, an MCSE was being practically ignored in the midwest! Due to bootcamps and brain-dumps, employers had been burned too many times by paper MCSE's, and it took 2 more years after I got my MCSE to actually land a full-time job instead of 2 and 3 month contracts! Either study and learn like the rest of us on a home network, or stay out of arena! |
| 7/24/02: Editor-Cert Times from Florida says: |
This is, has been and always will be a topic for heated debate. While I understand peoples angst against the test vendors such as Microsoft et al., it should be noted that the subject matter and learning curves are designed to weed out the weak. Sights like TestKiller (formerly TroyTech, who WAS shut down via an agreement with CompTIA)and all the other cheat sites and braindumps are creating several problems, not the least of which is devaluing the certifications themselves and giving the users a false sense of security. If you rely on these resources, what will happen when you are faced with a real situation on the job? You won't be able to jump online and cheat your way to the answers, you'll either know what to do or find yourself pounding pavement. Also, don't forget, like it or not, you chose this as a career, and with any choice come good and bad. Nothing is perfect, but no one should sell themselves short by taking the easy way out. It becomes habit forming. |
| 7/24/02: Charlie from Arkansas says: |
If you think Microsoft is so corrupt and money hungry, why bother with thier MOC classes and Certification tests? If they don't mean any more to you than that you probably are wasting your money, not to mention degrading Certifications I worked HARD to achieve and value! Buying the answers to test ahead of time IS CHEATING no matter how you look at it. What have you proved by passing an exam that you bought the answers to! Isn't that like just BUYING the Certification! Boy the value of that one just fell anouther space or two! If you don't know the material and don't know how the OS works you don't deserve to be Certified in that OS!! Take the classes, do the labs, work with the product you want to be declared a PROFESSIONAL in and take the test! The tests belong to Mcrosoft as well as the answers! You agreed not to disclose the answers as did the people collecting for DUMP sites, thats a violation of an agreement with Microsoft and you should have your Certs. pulled and be banned from getting any others! If you cann't take and pass the test without someone giving or selling you the answers you don't deserve to be Certified!!! |
| 7/24/02: Anonymous says: |
Ridiculus... The mere thought that official classes are only meant to give you a basis on the product and not get you ready for the tests are brain dead. All vendors need to prove that they have a support structure, that's you and me people, readily available for their product if they ever expect to sell it to the masses. I work for an integrator and am expected to be up on all MS products prior to release so that when it is ready we can sell a solution. Our customers expect a certain level of expertise as does MS prior to moving any product. Now how the hell am I supposed to do this without the official classes and some good study material. Not a single customer of mine is willing to accept that I am a professional with product "A" unless I am certified in it. In addition, anyone that takes more than a year to pass the complete battery of Microsoft MCSE tests either has a very comfortable job, is lazy, or is an idiot. I would also like to thank you becasue it is people like you that let me live on the cutting edge of technology and make a living. |
| 7/25/02: d says: |
I can see both sides of this ugly coin. But, here's one thing I know for sure. MS exams do NOT test your 'Knowledge' of the material, they test your ability to identify the quirkiest parts of their OS. 60% or so of what is on their exams you will never see in real life, so how could experience possibly 'count' as the morally right suppose. I certed in 3.51, 4.0, 2000, CCNA 1.0, 3.0. I can tell you that I've failed probably more than half my exams....I've also got 8 or so years of solid experience--and let me tell you if any person says that just based on 'experience' they can go sit an MS exam, they are totally full of crap. |
| 7/25/02: d says: |
Oh ya, and by the way....just after I got my 3.51 cert Trancender came out onto the market. AND yes, the king of testmakers does the exact same shiat as all the rest--they are just smart enough to reword the questions just enough so that they don't get sued. |
| 7/25/02: gman from LA says: |
Why not shut down all sites that are providing the same test even like this site should be no exception. |
| 7/26/02: TJ says: |
As I read this, there is an ad for Test King right on the same page. One dump vendor closes, and the next one is right there. |
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